UNA-NYC Summer Scholars 2019 Winners
The United Nations Association of New York salutes our Summer Scholar 2019 fellowship winners: Fatène Ben-Hamza, Emily Boytinck, Rabia Javed, Caitlyn Passaretti and Sarah Rashid. We offer them our warm congratulations and wish them all the best during their time abroad!
Their achievements while working in country offices located in Egypt, Jordan, Senegal and Turkey will immeasurably add to a deeper appreciation of the work of both UNFPA and UNICEF. The mission of the Summer Scholars program is to enrich and foster direct knowledge and understanding of the United Nations and international organizations.
Look out for personal blogs from our scholars this summer as they write about their experiences abroad. We will feature links to those on this page as they become available. Read more below and meet each of our 2019 Summer Scholars!
2019 SAP McDermott Summer Scholars
UNA-NYC is grateful for the support of SAP and its Chief Executive Officer and UNA-NYC 2018 Humanitarian of the Year award winner, Bill McDermott, for their financial support of the UNA-NYC Summer Scholars Program. We are proud to announce that Sarah Rashid and Fatène Ben-Hamza have been selected as the inaugural SAP McDermott summer scholars.
FATÈNE BEN-HAMZA | Summer Scholars 2019: JORDAN Fellowship
Fatène Ben-Hamza is from Tunisia, and is a first-year student in the MPA-DP program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). During the summer of 2019, Fatène will be interning with UNICEF in Amman, Jordan and more particularly, in the ADAP (Adolescent Development and Participation) and HIV section for adolescents and youth.
Prior to joining the program, Fatène served as a program manager at the Drosos Foundation in both Morocco and Tunisia. Drosos is a non-profit, charitable organization based in Switzerland. Established in 2003, the foundation is involved with more than 100 projects which work to fight poverty, promote health, increase access to education and creative activities for youth, and protect the environment.
Fatène was a program manager at the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (HIVOS), a development aid organization headquartered in the Netherlands.
Fatène is one of two SAP McDermott Summer Scholars.
Read Fatène's blog HERE
EMILY BOYTINCK | Summer Scholars 2019: SENEGAL Fellowship
Emily Boytinck is currently a candidate in the Master of Development Practice Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), focusing on disasters, emergencies, and crisis management. She in from Edmonton, Canada and holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from McGill University.
She has a diverse array of experience related to political advocacy and community development. As an undergraduate, she was deeply involved in social and environmental movements in Montreal, eventually working on mobilization and political affairs as an executive on her student union. After graduation Emily moved to Inukjuak, a remote Inuit community in the Canadian arctic, to work as an entrepreneurship project coordinator for an alternative education organization. In this role she worked directly with Inukjuamiut youth, implementing experiential learning projects that aimed at developing practical leadership and entrepreneurial skills and fostering youth involvement in the community. She currently works at the Earth Institute as a research intern, studying coastal adaptation to climate change in developing countries.
Emily is incredibly excited to be spending the summer in Dakar at the Senegal UNFPA County Office, where she will support the reproductive health team through research, data analysis, and communication.
Read Emily's blog HERE
RABIA JAVED | Summer Scholars 2019: TURKEY Fellowship
Rabia Javed is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Administration at Baruch College’s Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, with a concentration in Health Care Policy. She completed her undergraduate studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, majoring in Cell and Molecular Biology, and minoring in Law. Rabia is interested in the intersection of science, health, and policy.
While in college, Rabia spent the summer following her sophomore year studying abroad in Morocco. There she analyzed the therapeutic properties of medicinal plants and their value as biopesticides. Upon the completion of the project, she decided to join a toxicology lab where she analyzed the toxic mechanisms of commonly used fungicides, and the application of plant-derived therapeutics to mitigate their toxicity. Over the course of her research, she realized that environmental related health challenges faced by the public are largely due to the lack of regulation and effective policies, rather than due to a lack of scientific research.
Her experience as a researcher has led her to pursue a career in public policy where she hopes to work with policymakers and scientists to better the quality of life and the environment.
Originally from Pakistan, Rabia grew up in Syria and moved to the U.S. when she was 17. She enjoys working with students, reading about the human brain, and experiencing new cultures.
Rabia is excited to spend the summer in Turkey interning with the UNFPA Regional Office’s Sexual and Reproductive Health program, where she will focus on the program’s goal to foster gender equality by increasing access of health services to vulnerable groups including women, refugees, and adolescents.
Read Rabia's blog HERE
CAITLYN PASSARETTI | Summer Scholars 2019: CAIRO Fellowship
Caitlyn Passaretti is a current dual degree candidate studying for a Master’s of Science in Social Work and a Master’s of Public Administration at Columbia University.
She has worked on gender based violence analysis for UNICEF and the mapping of genocide prevention and historical memory organizations with the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. This past spring, she completed her capstone project with the International Peace Institute focused on the development of new technologies for the protection of civilians in conflict zones.
Prior to attending graduate school, Caitlyn worked in the largest homeless services center in Missouri running a therapeutic horticulture and job-training program for individuals experiencing homelessness and suffering from severe mental illnesses and drug/alcohol addictions. In addition to advocating for housing reform, Caitlyn has been involved in criminal justice reform, working with a reentry agency in Oakland, CA focusing on providing legal and social support to people who are currently incarcerated and those who are living with a criminal record. She created parole plans for clients so they can access housing, mental health services, employment services, and legal support in an effort to reduce recidivism throughout the state.
Caitlyn is very excited to work with UNFPA’s Arab Regional Office on Youth and HIV/AIDS Program this summer and extend her knowledge and experience of the intersections of social work and policy development.
Read Caitlyn's blog HERE
SARAH RASHID | Summer Scholars 2019: EGYPT Fellowship
Sarah Rashid is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work at Columbia University with a focus on International Social Welfare. She is a Pakistani-American from New Jersey and has a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialized in global post-colonial literature and studied Arabic abroad in Jordan.
She has traveled throughout the Middle East and Asia, including volunteering with disabled orphan youth in Morocco and with unaccompanied refugee youth in Turkey. She has also worked for a social enterprise that empowers women at risk of human trafficking in India and Cambodia through fashion production and business training.
As part of her graduate studies, she recently returned to Jordan to conduct impact evaluation research for a youth sports empowerment program that builds social cohesion between refugee and host communities. She is also currently working as a research assistant with the Cogburn Research Group at Columbia’s School of Social Work to analyze the intersections of racism, health and media.
Sarah has extensive experience designing and facilitating youth empowerment programs, including four years managing a young women’s leadership program with low-income immigrant adolescents in Queens, which ignited her love for social work. She is passionate about creating innovative psychosocial support programs that empower vulnerable youth to become change-makers in their communities.
She is very excited to be in Cairo, Egypt this summer working with the UNFPA Country Office’s Youth, Peace & Security Program.
Sarah is one of two SAP McDermott Summer Scholars.
Read Sarah's blog HERE